Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) announced today that it had selected a CIO to replace Peter Dalton who left that position last year.

The new CIO, Anne Weatherston, has been the CIO for the Bank of
Ireland for the past four years where she led a transformation of
the bank's IT structure, ANZ said. Prior to that, she was the
information technology director at another bank Abbey/Santander.
She has also held IT positions at Gaz de France, the National
Australia Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland, according to
ANZ.

She will join ANZ early next year. Reporting to chief
executive Mike Smith directly, she will be one of the 12 members on
the ANZ management board.

In a video interview carried out by recruiter Harvey
Nash earlier this year, Weatherston said that her biggest single
challenge as the CIO of Bank of Ireland had been to "maintain
service while reducing cost, specifically to maintain a position
where IT is seen as not purely a cost base, but also a function
that enables strategic change".

"You have to have a track record of fixing the basics, then once
you've persuaded people of your added value, then really engage
with people in how you can use technology to help people achieve
their objectives," she said.

Smith was pleased. "This appointment highlights the significant
attention ANZ is placing on its systems and technology, including
simplifying our approach to technology architecture and delivering
global IT platforms and capabilities," he said in a statement.

In the video interview, Weatherston said she believed it was
important for the financial services to get ahead on technology.
"The market never sleeps... Technology will differentiate those
companies that come out at the far end," she said.

David Cartwright, who along with Kieran Griffiths had been carrying out the role of acting
chief information officer, will still head up ANZ's operations and shared services,
which includes the technology office in Bangalore, India. Next year, ANZ's core support division — Operations, Technology and Shared Services — will be split into two separate divisions.

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